Wedding of Blue
by Haruko Saruwatari
Summary: Lance is taken prisoner at a planet the team visits to recruit for the coalition. Lance is unfortunate and makes a mess around a certain habitant, and suddenly the coalition is in danger. A deal is made, and Lance is in the middle of it all. Keith hears about it from the team, and snaps. (takes some time to get to the action, sorry)
1. Chapter 1

Lance still didn't know.

Keith sat on the other side of the table, following Lances every move as the dark-skinned paladin leaned forward to grab food placed all around the table. Keith couldn't stop himself from searching towards the paladin's eyes, hoping he would look straight at him, if only for a second.

Lance blinked and smiled as he replied to Hunk's comment.

Now he laughed.

Keith wanted so bad to join in on the conversation, his heart kept pushing him to grab the chance. Grab it, smile, add a comment.

The moment he could join in, flew past him. Lance looked at Keith for a split second, and stopped smiling.

Only for a split second. Then he turned to Pidge, ignoring Keith again.

His heart sank.

Lance still didn't know.

He did not know how much Keith was pining for him.

Biting his own lips, he furrowed his brows and kept his thoughts to himself. If Lance was ignoring him like that, then he could do it too. It's fine.

Also, him having a crush could only be a problem in their teamwork. If Lance didn't reciprocate his feelings, he'd like to throw himself into a wormhole and stay there.

He began to pout, not noticing that Lance and Shiro had noticed his sudden drop of mood. None of them pointed it out, as they thought they were the only ones noticing.

.

"Okay team, we will be visiting a new planet today and form an aliance there. These aliens are an important part of our coalition, as they are very powerful and with a lot of influence in neighboring planets. So we need you guys on your best behavior." Shiro began their meeting, opening up for Allura to continue the information flow. She nodded.

"The planet is called Abox, and it's residents are called Hoobyxes. They look very much like you humans, but they are buffer, and in a lot of..different colours. They are also very aggressive in having it their own way, so if they want anything from us, we must stay on their side. If we refuse, they might drop the whole coalition and attack us instead! That is why we have to be on their good side, no matter what."

"That is why you all need to prepare, both mentally and physically. Keith, let go of your blade and put it in your room here in the castle. Pidge, either get a pair of lenses or.. Wait you don't really need glasses, nevermind."

Shiro nudged his fingertips at his nose, feeling his own mind laughing at his forgetfulness. Pidge and Hunk had a hard time keeping the smirks from showing.

Allura coughed and tried to get everyone's attention again. Her mouth was curved in a smile too, but refused to admit it.

"Sorry Pidge," Shiro sighed as he smiled at her.

"Back to business. Everyone should be getting ready for this visit. Put on your pretty clothes! Coran and I have picked out some suitable altean fashion, so we hope you all like it."

Meeting dismissed.

.

Keith looked at Lances back as they walked out of the room. His hair was getting longer in the neck, causing twirls and curls.

He looked good. The little twirl at the nape of his neck looked so soft and pretty, he just wanted to put his finger inside it and twist, feeling the softness on his skin.

"Eh, Keith?" Keith blinked, and realized his hand was reaching for Lances. Now Lance was about to turn around towards him.

Keith froze up.

"If there is something you want to tell me, please say it instead of bottling up, okay?" Lance looked straight into Keith's eyes.

His eyes were gray, almost like his aura had weakened within the minutes since they were dismissed. The small, usually ocean blue irises didn't glow as powerful as they did during dinner.

Was he tired?

Wait was Lance onto his feelings for him?!

Did Lance know that Keith had those feelings for him?

Play it cool, play it cool. Don't get worked up, stay cool! Should he flee? Should he stay to talk it out, maybe even learn what Lance thought of him?

But what if Lance didn't like him, and that's what he would be saying if Keith tried to confess?

He'd rather stay in that wormhole forever.

He furrowed his brows and squinted hostile towards Lance. No way he allow himself to be turned down today.

"Sure." he nodded quickly, taking long steps to get past Lance in the hallway. His steps were loud, and they kept getting louder as he kept walking.

Why was he such a dumbass?

.

Screaming into his pillow, the galra tried to let out his anger at himself. He wanted to unleash his anger in the training room, but Lance was there. The pillow would do for now.

Why was he so stupid? Of course Lance wouldn't turn him down with such a sentence, he just wanted to know if something was up! He wanted to talk!

Stupid. Idiot. Naive fucking redneck. Dad would turn in his grave. Fucking disaster-gay. Paranoid furry.

He kept hitting his head into the wall, still holding his pillow between his hands.

Fucking weak idiot.

He rested his head on the wall, not moving an inch. The only thing he heard, was his own breath. There was no texture on the walls to focus on.

He let out a sigh.

His head was a mess. Should he trust his head or his heart?

Should he just confess his feelings, or keep up an angry fasade and avoid being let down?

He wanted to run away. Run away so badly. He really wanted to get away, stop seeing Lance all around him. Maybe if he stayed away and tried to think of something else, the recurring images of the blue paladin would disappear?

But did he want that?

He wanted to see Lance every day. To feel the dark skin close to his own, breath in the smell of it. He'd sometimes smell like a rainforest, some days he would smell like cinnamon. Keith was sure that Lance had somehow gotten his hands on that spice, but he couldn't for the love of his life figure out how to ask him about it.

He wanted to keep his dear friend close, hugging him tight and fall asleep while watching him breathe. Stroking his fingers through the short hair, see to it how long it's grown since they began dating, since they left earth. Tracing his neck. Twisting the locks. Feeling the silky hair tickle his senses.

Keith sighed again. He was afraid of rejection, but it would be worth a shot if Lance would actually like him back.

Should he talk to Shiro about this? Tell another paladin how he felt about Lance, and his insecurities in that matter?

Keith fell onto the bed, clutching his pillow, hugging it tight.

Talking to Shiro about minor insecurities that probably will be solved once he leaves for The Blade?

.

[Author here! Please comment constructiv criticism on Keiths feelings/thoughts if you think it's a miss! I'm having trouble writing this thing from his perspective _only_ (good thing I'll be switching to Lance next chapter^^]


	2. Chapter 2

Lance fell to his knees. His head was spinning, his heart was beating fast. Heaving for air, his chest rose and fell. Sweat dripped from his forehead, hitting the floor beneath him.

His voice was hoarse, and getting worse for each time he yelled.

He clenched his gun, changing it's form back to the original bayard as he lost his strength.

He took a deep breath.

"End training sequence!"

The balls fell to the ground just like the bots. The screen showed his training level. It was a new record.

A smile appeared on his face, grinning as he saw the new score.

"Finally, level 15!" he grinned. Compared to Keith who was in level 20, this was great progress! If he kept going like this, he might surpass him! That way Keith would DEFINITELY notice him not only as a paladin, but as a talented person too! That will show him how great he was..!

Lance grinned as he fell to the ground like a sack of stones. His knees couldn't support him anymore.

As he lied down and grinned at the roof, he felt the accomplishment faded. Faded too fast.

Why didn't Keith look at him?

They were different and had a rough start, but they should still be a good team, right?

Keith was so great, he probably didn't need anyone else on their missions.

But even then, he didn't need to avoid his teammates like that.

Or did he only avoid him?

Lance stared at the ceiling, finding a spot right above him. The room was huge, like a ballroom. He liked the design. Nobody on the team had actually commented on that when they first arrived at the castle, but he thought it looked nice.

Did Keith think it was nice?

"Why am I so hung up about that mullet?! He doesn't even see me as a team member! I am nothing to him.."

Throwing his fists in pure frustration, he bit his lower lip. Something warm streamed down his chin, making him confused. His eyes widened, and he realized. It was a teardrop.

Trying to dry it with his fingertips, a small lump formed in his throat.

"Why do you have to hate me?" he sobbed.

"Like, I get it. I am a pushover, an idiot, a cargo pilot. I'm just a boy from Cuba that doesn't know how to make cool gadgets or cook alien food," he rolled to the side, curling into a ball, "and I'm certainly not the best fighter on missions.."

His mood dropped.

"Of course he doesn't like me back.."

.

Allura stood in front of everyone, only waiting for the castle to land on the planet. Everyone were chattering away, but lowkey expecting Allura to give them a last hands up about their mission.

And she did.

"Paladins. I must remind you that we are to visit all the planets in this solar system. This planet, Abox, is the least hostile of them all, and we need to tread carefully. We shall stay for a few quintents (days) and then travel to the next planet, Obcyr. I will tell you more about it later, but for now; behave."

She turned to face the door behind them, and signalled for Coran to open it up.

Lance eyed Keith for a second, but looked away in an instant. Why even try? There was no reason for him to even look, he'd only ignore him or glare back with hateful eyes (as usual).

Lance bit his lips and tried not to cry. That thought hit him harder than he anticipated.

.

The inhabitants of Abox where, to quote Hunk, the hunkiest aliens he'd ever seen. All of Alluras information were right, but it could never prepare them for the actual aliens.

They were at least a meter taller than the paladins. Their arms and legs were huge and with smooth skin, but their necks were full of a lion-like mane. The head was small compared to the body, and their ears were like a longer version of alteans'.

They were wearing huge armors on their arms, and it was shimmering like glitter in the sun.

Lance liked what he saw.

Until he figured out that the females looked just like the males.

"Duh Lance, they don't have genders here. They are like snails, they are both genders and switch! And yes I googled them in the database."

Pidge pushed her glasses back in that annoying way, as a "geez you didn't know?" comment.

Lance wrinkled his nose as a response. Snails..

"Also they can shapeshift because of the snail ability. They are kinda like Allura, you know what I mean?" she continued, and now Hunk joined the conversation.

Lance began to walk slower, falling slowly behind on team Punk. Their altean outfits looked cool, and it really fit each of them.

The closest way to describe the clothings was to say.. It looked indian? Although Coran and Allura wore their usual clothes (except for Allura who now wore her dress), the rest of them looked closer to indian. Yeah, indian for sure.

It was a bit weird to make that connection, but he thought it was the closest to what he saw. They were gorgeous, each and every paladin. And Coran.

Lance stole a glance towards Keith, who was walking in the front with Shiro. He totally understood why he would spend so much time with their leader; Shiro the hero, everyone's space dad.

Shiro was, and still is, his hero.

Lance bit his lower lip.

Keith had 100 times better chemistry with Shiro than with him..

Lance began to walk even slower, feeling his thoughts consuming him more than he anticipated. Shit, not good.

He bumped into Coran's shoulder, and the altean looked worried as he caught the paladin.

Lance smiled a sorry smile back, and moved forward, walking between the alteans and the paladins.

Keith didn't even look behind himself once.

.

Lance wanted to go back to blue.

The coalition thinks he's an idiot, he shouldn't come for these parties. They shouldn't let him go to these parties, he's just embarrassing everyone by saying stupid and inappropriate jokes! Allura must hate him now, she's gonna kill him when they get back to the castle!

Lance sank down the wall onto the floor. He could hear the faint music and chattering from the big hall he'd run from just a few minutes ago. His heart wouldn't stop beating, and it HURT.

The lump in his throat kept growing, and he tried to calm down by taking big drags of air.

For a good 10 minutes, he sat on the floor, completely alone, trying not to suffocate from the stress.

The memories of what happened before the catastrophe appeared in his mind.

First, he'd look for Keith, cause he wanted to remember how gorgeous he looked in the altean clothing. He accidentally walked into one of the hoobyxes, and as it turned around to face him, Lance felt his blood left his face.

He looked furious.

"What did you just do, you rat?" it snarled, squinting it's eyes. Lance felt a small lump in his throat.

"I.. I didn't mean to- It was an accident, I'm sorry-"

The hoobyx slammed it's drink to the floor, crushing the glass so liquid and shards flew everywhere. The music stopped.

"You imbecile! You fool! How can Voltron be led by an uncoordinated idiot like you?! Spilling drinks on Fortar?! Leave this planet before you cause more damage, PALADIN."

The hoobyx was now hovering over Lance, fury in it's eyes, and it's voice roaring. Everyone was silent, and nobody came to rescue him.

Lance ran from the hall, cursing to himself and wondering what the hell just happened.

Back to the hallway he now sat in, he had finally caught up with his breath. But he couldn't go back in there. That hoobyx looked important.. The king of the kind would probably side with him.

He should just stay outside or in the castle..

"Hey, are you okay?"

.

 _Sorry for the long wait! It'll probably take some time to update this anyway, so sorry in advance!_


	3. Chapter 3

Lance looked up in fear of it being Keith coming towards him. A tall figure came towards him, but it didn't look completely human. His tears refused to let him see clearly, and he cursed for not being able to dry them enough to get a clear picture.

"Who's there?!" he asked, a bit too harsh. The figure didn't stop walking.

"I am not here to hurt you, paladin. I saw what happened, and I hope you can forgive Fortar for-"

Lance felt the lump in his throat grow bigger. It was just a matter of time before the whole planet would be speaking of the stupid paladin that angered their mighty "Fortar".

He let out a small whimper before he choked on the lump. How he wanted to disappear now! He wanted to scream at the Hoobryx for coming, for seeing him cry like this!

Suddenly, he felt something touch his forehead. He opened his eyes again, and saw the hand of the hoobryx. He traced the hand, the arm, the shoulder, and then, it's eyes.

It was crying.

The tears were big and FULL; they reminded him of those tears he saw in old animation movies.

Lance looked at the hoobryx in awe. Weren't these guys supposed to be tough? The eyes were big, but they did not look too sad. But it didn't seem too annoyed by the water streaming down it's face either.

"Sorry, my paladin. I should not be here with you, but I saw how hurt you were from meeting Fortar like that, and I just knew you might be in need of.. well, comfort?"

The hoobryx looked at Lance with a worried face, still with tears falling down his cheeks.

"Oh, excuse me for a minute, maybe this will help you relax?" the hoobryx said, and backed down, retrieving his hand from Lance's forehead.

In seconds, he changed his appearance to something closer to a human. Or at least, an altean. It's skin colour changed to a darker brown, close to Lance's own latino colour. They eyes changed into

Lance let out a small gasp. He was reminded of what Pidge said earlier; and this was probably not what she had in mind when she googled that!

The hoobryx hadn't changed mugh to his appearance other than his face and muscular structure in it's upper body. It was not as tall and big and grizzled as the others of his kind, and it puzzled Lance a bit. But he looked gorgeous in his human form.

"Is this better, my paladin?" it looked Lance in his eyes, not breaking contact. A new teardrop appeared in his eye corner.

"How did you.. Why are you crying like that? Like, we thought you all were savages, or hard to talk to and, but you are not like the others, not that it's a bad thing, but you.. CAME after me, and.."

Lance shut himself up before he said anything more. Better not get him mad.

The hoobryx came closer to Lance, putting his hand on his forehead again. It started to stroke his hair back, as comfort. Its hand was soft.

"I am.. different than my people. I am.. soft, in their eyes. It is hard to explain, but I seem to be the only one to cry other's tears. I am a weakness to my people, so I am really not allowed to be on welcome parties, like this one for you paladins. I hope you don't mind my attempt to comfort you, my paladin?"

Lance sat in silence, only shaking his head when asked that last question.

They kept their position for some time, taking their time to regain the confidence to stand up and face the rest of the party. Lance knew his eyes were red and puffy, and he hated how that hoobryx would have that memory of him.

"What should I do about Fortar?" Lance whispered. His voice was soft and weak. He didn't really want to speak.

The hoobryx thought about it.

"You need to talk and properly apologize. I don't know of your customs, but we apologize with ceremonies."

Lance could do that. Yeah, a ceremony would be totally okay.

He asked what it was like. The hoobryx lightened up.

"Oh it's a beautiful ceremony! Everyone dresses up, you say your apology, they accept it; they almost always accepts it, and then you end it all with a peace offering. Usually something that shows ownership of the other person! An apology from another hoobryx is basically ownership."

"Wait wait, ownership of who?"

"Of the apologetic one, of course!"

Lance wrinkled his eyebrows now. This ceremony reminded him very much of something he'd heard of before, but he couldn't put his finger on where.

"Is that really the only way to get his forgiveness?" Lance asked again, whispering.

The hoobryx cocked it's head a little to the side and bit its lip. Lance wanted to assume it was a girl, but he wasn't too sure yet.

The alien shook its head slightly to answer his question.

His heart dropped a bit.

Maybe Allura could save him from this.

"What if I asked the princess? She is great with diplomacy, she could help me out of this mess!"

Lance lit up by the thought, and rose from the floor. She had probably heard of the mess he made already, given the fact that Fortar was so loud back then.

The princess HAD to help him out.

It wasn't impossible to think she could, right?

"Thank you so much for your help, it helped me clear my head. What is your name?" Lance smiled, but still couldn't shake the nervous feeling off him.

"My name is Mu," the hoobryx said, giving a small smile back. That did not help Lance in his quest to figure out it's gender.

Lance reached out his arm to touch Mu's shoulder, as to appreciate them. Within seconds, he'd been swooped off the floor and found himself in the arms of Mu, now touching foreheads.

Their skin was so soft, he was baffled.

When he realized what was going on, he blushed. Mu was centimeters away from his lips, he could feel the breath of the alien, and it smelled like the sea. The alien had its eyes closed, and Lance was grateful they did that.

He let down his guard to feel the touch. This was nice.

"Lance?"

Oh god.

.

Author here! Sorry for the long wait, and for starting a (small) ship with Lance and Mu :') Don't worry, Keith will get his cake too!


	4. Chapter 4

That was Keith.

Oh god that was Keith.

Lance could tell, even if his eyes were full of fucking tears and he couldn't really see anything.

That was, without a doubt, Keith.

He felt his heart stopped beating.

He just wanted to disappear. Or redo everything he had ever done in his life so this would never have happened.

With a swift movement, he got out of Mu's hands, and was now leaning on the wall opposite of the one he'd been sitting with from the start.

His heart was now back and alive, beating so hard it felt like it could burst any moment now.

Keeping his back turned to Keith, he tried to compose himself.

What mask to put on now?

Should he play it off?

Should he run?

Should he be serious and tell him the truth?

..but what WAS the truth?

He couldn't hear any of the things the others said to him.

"..."

"...!"

"..ce!"

A hand grabbed Lance's shoulder and forced him to turn around, now facing Keith.

His head exploded.

His eyes widened, twitching, not sure what to focus on. Looking at the other's chest, his vision blurred. He kept blinking, clenching his fists.

He glanced up for a second, to meet Keith's dark eyes.

Lance bit the lower lip so hard he felt the salty taste of blood.

Keith didn't even look at him.

He didn't know what to even expect, but that really sunk his heart, ship, everything.

Keith avoiding eye contact was like having his heart being nonchalantly thrown into a well.

He swallowed the rock in his throat.

Lance let his vision down, now trying to focus on his feet and not falling out of consciousness.

He could hear footsteps faint in the distance. The hand was still on his shoulder, so he assumed Mu left them alone.

After a few moments, Keith opened his mouth.

"Shiro is gathering us for the grand meeting."

.

.

.

Lance wanted to run away. He planned it all in his head; first he'd smack Keith in the back with something sharp, sneak out of the palace for Blue, then fly the hell out of there. Then he'd leave Blue at the castle, get his stuff and some food goo, and then hijack one of the old altean ships to fly away forever with.

Perfect plan!

"We're here, Shiro!"

Damnit.

"Keith! Lance! Good to see you both. It was a mess out there, kinda glad you didn't see it."

Lance didn't want to know what he referred to.

All the paladins were gathered together in a room that was close to the size of the living room of the castle. There were pillows and all in all, a very cozy place. Much better than the empty hall Lance had sobbed in up to now.

Hunk was quick to meet Lance by his side. He lowered his voice.

"Buddy, are you okay? I saw what happened, but I was too far away from you, also I had a huge amount of food in my mouth, so stopping it would have been.."

The blue paladin shook his head, not wanting to hear more of it.

The important part was that nobody came to his rescue. No matter their own reasons, it didn't validate the fact that they did nothing.

He caught a quick glance at Keith, hoping to get eye contact.

He only saw his back.

Glancing at the other paladins, he sighed.

"I think I might have cause a commotion. I really need your help getting out of this."

.

.

.

"Welcome back, everyone! The paladins of Voltron and I, Princess Allura, are all honored to be welcomed at your beautiful planet Abox. We hope to forge a great bond between us, and to leave all issues behind as we open this banquet to[...]"

Allura was holding her speech, looking ravishing as usual. Lance could tell, she had practiced that.

He was feeling a little better now that he got to talk to Shiro and all about the Fortar problem.

They got it, and accepted it. Allura listened in, and (of course) agreed to help him out as best as she could. They couldn't leave their paladin in such distress, right?

Right?

Allura sat down, now done with her speech.

The king of the Hoobryxes nodded in acceptance, and yelled out words in a weird tongue that Lance assumed were their language? He'd never thought of the fact that he could always understand what everyone else was saying without problems.

It wasn't really a problem, but he really just thought it was weird.

A hoobryx came behind him and poured a purple liquid in his glass, while bowing. Lance recognized it as Mu, and gave them a small smile as they moved to Hunk who sat next to him.

As they began to grab food from the huge bowls around them, one of the inhabitants rose from his place and turned towards the paladins.

Lance froze.

Mu froze.

"Your highness, I must inform you that one of the paladins of Voltron has disgraced themselves towards us as people, and must therefore apologize. Especially to me,"

The hoobryx glanced at Lance and smirked. It went cold down his spine.

The cuban quickly glanced in Shiro's direction, hoping the hero would save him with his grace for words.

The hero was just as frozen as himself.

"I know what you are implying, Fortar," the old king said slowly.

"And what did the paladin do?"

Fortar straightened up, bulging his chest and smiling sinisterly, and locked eyes on Lance.

"The paladin ran into me, fully aware of the consequences. I fell to the ground, ruining everything around me with our sacred liquid, that you all know is impossible to clean! He made a fool out of me, my dear king. We can't let that slide away, can we?"

The king looked at Fortar, then to Allura.

"We Hoobryxes have a long tradition of apologies. It is a sacred part of our culture, and our laws."

The king rose from his chair.

"When someone does someone wrong, they apologize. We don't MAKE mistakes. _They just don't happen._ I am sure the princess is aware of our culture, and is ready to apologize for her paladins actions?"

Slowly walking towards Allura, the king rose their voice. Their face was impossible to see, as it was covered in hair. Only the crown could tell there was a head inside all of that fur.

"Me?" Allura whispered. Lance assumed she wasn't as informed about the species.

This was trouble.

Unless he could do something about it.

.

Tadaaaaa, now you have to wait some time for the next update!


	5. Chapter 5 (Keith's view)

As Allura spoke about the habitants of the planet they were visiting, Keith glanced quickly at Lance.

He was gorgeous.

Just for a second, he could look at him. Now back to Allura.

Lance really looked good in the altean clothes.

It reminded him a bit of the rope the cuban used to wear too, only better.

Keith felt his heart flutter with happiness. He could watch Lance wear gorgeous clothes and look happy all evening!

Allura wrapped up her speech, Coran opened the doors, and out they went.

Shiro tapped his shoulder.

"I see you still look at Lance from time to time?" he smirked.

Keith blushed.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said in defense.

Shiro cackled.

"But there's something else on your mind, right?"

Bulls eye.

"You can say there is.." Keith mumbled, looking at the ground as they kept walking towards the party. He could hear Lance talking in the back with Pidge and Hunk, and he wanted so bad to hear what they said.

"You can tell me what you're thinking, Keith. If there's a problem, we can fix it."

.

Why was Shiro's voice always so reassuring?

Now he wanted to come clean with everything!

Keith bit his lower lip 'till he felt the pain.

"It's about the blades."

Shiro nodded.

"You want to join them,"

"I do."

"But you also don't want to,"

"I.."

"I can't let you as a paladin leave us to fight a battle where you are replaceable."

Shut down.

"Shiro, I want to do this. They have a mission close to this solar system, they will start it in a few days! I can join them, and come back when it's done! You guys are probably not done with this solar system within that time anyway. So please."

"You want to leave so badly?"

Keith nodded in silence.

Shiro sighed.

"I will talk to Allura about it later tonight. For now, just behave and try not to fight anyone here."

Raising his fist, Keith smiled and bumped his own into Shiro's.

"I'm glad we had this talk."

.

Allura could have clarified that the Hoobryxes could be very touchy, because they were.

VERY touchy.

They touched him everywhere, EVERYWHERE! His hair, his cheeks, his arms and hips and lower back, all the places he couldn't protect.

He was ganged up against eight hoobryxes, all of them looking very feminine with their pink-coloured dresses and pants. Their armor was shining like glitter, and it really didn't help him when the glitter projected the lights in the ceiling to his eyes.

He hated this. Even the food was below average. He would prefer the food goo on the castle over all this. Most of it looked like it was alive!

"S-sorry girls, but I need to go for a quick.. smoking break," he stammered as he tried to walk away from the crowd.

Their hands were soft and warm and all, but he really wanted to get away from them.

Their feeling lingered in his body, and he felt gross.

"I'll rather have the dark hands of-" he mumbled to himself as he turned towards the exit.

And he walked straight into Shiro's chest.

"I guess you're not looking for me, are you?" he laughed.

Keith let out a sigh in relief.

.

They found a spot with very few hoobryxes. Shiro greeted them in his graceful manner, and got Allura and Coran to crowd around both of them. Keith felt his heart could relax a little now that he was around people that wouldn't touch him all over again.

Shiro and Allura began talking, while Coran tried to follow one of the hoobryxes serving food on serving dishes. Within secounds, he was gone.

Keith assumed the same happened to Hunk.

Now he could scout for Lance in the vast ocean of people. Trying to not gain eye-contact with other eyes, he tried to find his perfect friend that he'd love to call boyfriend some day.

If he would ever be interested in anything other than girls, that was..

After minutes of scouting, he gave up.

Suddenly, something pushed him from behind, causing him to turn around in a swift moment and raise his hands to fight.

(not his best way to behave in a party)

The big brown eyes of Hunk were looking straight at Keith's.

And his mouth was filled to the edge with food. If he tried to put one more thing in his mouth, Keith was sure it would cause his jaw to pop right out.

"Hunk?" he smiled, relieved to see another paladin. Maybe he had seen Lance?

"Hhf! Hf e fhn hanf?" Hunk tried his best, but he clearly did not get his message through.

"You know, I'll just wait until you've swallowed all that."

While Hunk tried his best to eat his regret, Keith heard some roaring in the room. It was in the furthest place, and it sounded muffled.

The roar turned to cheering, and then applause.

Feeling his shoulders fell from the tension, he could assume it was Lance that was showing off some tricks.

These guys were probably easy to entertain, he guessed.

Either way, he wanted to see. If it was Lance, it could be some cool stuff, or really lame. But seeing Lance happy was the best feeling.

To see the blue eyes shimmer like the blue ocean on a summer day.

To see his perfectly silky skin.

To see his dark curls sway as he moved.

To hear his goofy jokes and the relaxing tone of his voice when he was serious.

He really wanted to see this.

"No, you're not going,"

Shiro's arm grabbed the collar of his altean clothes, and Keith felt his moment vanished.

Turning towards the other paladins, he pouted as they looked at each other.

"We need to discuss you."

.

By the time Shiro was done explaining the situation for Allura and Coran, the roaring and cheering had slowly turned into shouting and chanting. Now the mob had moved from the furthest of the hall, to standing in front of the paladins, chanting away.

The biggest of the hoobryxes walked forward with a huge smile on his face. He bickered his eyebrow and lowered his torso, leaning in to talk to the princess.

Keith didn't like the attitude of that guy.

"One of your little paladins have disgraced one of the greatest fighters on Abox. You WILL apologie, either him or you, princess."

His voice rang through the room, feeling like he spoke in a microphone.

The mighty voice made the whole room chant and yell, throwing their fists in the air like they were celebrating a football match gone right.

Keith felt a chill sensation through his spine as the giant hoobryx grinned.

.

Chapter done here! Keith's side of the story ^^ I hope this also makes it easier to understand why Allura seemed to take the blame for Lance^^'


	6. Chapter 6

Keith didn't notice his hands turning white from clenching his fists like that. He didn't notice how hard he bit his teeth and how tense his whole body was, until Shiro lay a hand on his shoulder.

Shiro whispered a "take it easy" to him as they saw the Hoobryx slowly walked towards them.

He didn't know if they had to fight or if Allura's diplomatic skills were good enough to avoid it at all.  
They DID come to this place to form an alliance.  
He was hoping Allura could fix this.

A quick glance over at Lance.

That idiot had somehow made a fool out of Abox's mightiest warrior, and warriors were highly respected on this planet, he assumed. Lance had buried his own grave.

Surprised, Keith saw how pale he was.  
His face was bland, his hair wasn't as well kept as it usually was, and his appearance in general looked way less "Lance" than ever.  
He looked stressed.

Keith worried.

"-I am sure the princess is aware of our culture, and is ready to apologize for her paladins actions?"

"Me?" the princess asked in a low voice.  
Her eyes were determined, but also a bit unsure. Her eyes didn't look like when she was giving orders. This was a situation she didn't know how to handle in the best way.

Also, the paladins and herself didn't know what that apology would even be! Was it just a simple sorry? None of them knew.

"I suppose I am ready to apologize. How do you want it done, your majesty?"  
Allura was now standing up and looking towards the king, who was now sitting down in his own chair. His hair was everywhere, and Keith couldn't see anything that could resemble any arms or legs either.

"Marvelous! The apology will happen tomorrow! We need to prepare for it, and it will be magnificent, my dear Princess of Altea." You could hear the smile in his voice.

Fortar smiled in a creepy way, looked at Allura in a thirsty way, and turned around and walked towards his own seat.  
The tension slowly dropped, and Keith could finally let his shoulders down and focus on eating before he went to his mission.

He was finally allowed by Shiro and Allura to go with the Blade. He had two days to go on the mission, but only as long as he stayed with them on these coalition-missions 'til the end.

.

He heard a chair fall back, and a voice shout.

.

"I will apologize in the place of Princess Allura!"

.

Keith's eyes went wide.  
Who said it?  
What did he say?

He didn't even have to look, he knew that voice SO WELL, but he really hoped it wasn't.  
But it was.

Lance was now the only paladin standing. Everyone else was sitting, every Hoobryx sitting and enjoying their food and purple drinks. Except Fortar.

Keith looked at him. Then on the huge hoobryx. Then back on Lance.  
Lance's body looked ready to fight, ready to sacrifice. His eyes said "everything for my team", but his lips said otherwise. Keith knew that body, he hadn't stared at him for hours for nothing!

The way Lance's lips contracted and tightened told him more than the others would know.  
Lance knew something that the others did not.

The big Hoobryx turned back, slowly. He raised an eyebrow, smirked, and rose his whole body as he stared down at Lance.

Keith felt his heart beat HARD.

"I volunteer as a Paladin of Voltron," he started, loud and clear but still nervous, "to apologize for my actions towards you and your people, Fortar."

The huge alien listened intently to what he said, and nodded his head. Raising his arms, he yelled out words that Keith couldn't understand. Everyone around them began yelling, chanting, roaring and clapping.

Lance sat down again, his face shining with sweat. He didn't even look toward Allura as she tried to get his attention, probably wondering what the heck that was for.

He looked so pale.

As the chanting kept going, Hunk and Allura tried to talk to him, getting his answer to why he fucked up like that.  
Keith got a bad feeling of this.

The king rose from his seat, and the chanting fainted within seconds.

"I see the paladin of Blue has chosen to take the Princess' place, I will allow him to do so. Fortar is, as he stated just now, agreeing to this condition. The apology will take place tomorrow, as we said earlier. May the coalition live long and prosper!"

Keith blinked before he turned his head back to the other paladins again.  
He heard a small bang, and as he looked towards the sound, his heart stopped for a moment.

Lance was down.

He was down, lying with his face down. He didn't look like a kid peacefully sleeping with it's head down in their food. More like a drunk idiot passing out in his own puke.

Keith couldn't do anything.

He saw Hunk hanging over him, pulling him up from his dinner plate, checking for life signs as he tried to figure out what was the problem. Allura was also quick to her feet, following the inspection of their fallen paladin.

"We need medical assistance, your majesty!" Shiro yelled as he rose, asking as nicely as he could manage. He looked worried.  
Many of the hoobryxes looked at the action, some looked concerned, some couldn't care less and just kept eating.

The king shook his head slowly.  
"He is in no need of medical attention. We are not sure if you paladins will keep your part of the trade, so this our way to be sure you will follow through. Many aliens are against our traditions, but we will continue to keep them, no matter what."

Keith blinked. What?

"What do you mean by that, exactly?" Shiro asked, not sure if he, or anyone, wants to know what they meant.

"He will get the antidote tomorrow, when the apology is performed."

"WHAT?!"

.

Sorry for the delay in updates! Will probably be a new one in late november (bc exams and all) What do you think so far in the story? ^^


	7. Chapter 7

Author here! Sorry for the long wait, but here's a new chapter of the story :) I hope you're not bored of it yet? It's gotten a lot longer than first anticipated ^^'

.

Lance woke up, his head feeling groggy and misty. It was heavy, and it really hurt to move his head. It felt like he had a bad flu. Making a growl, he squinted his eyes tight before trying to open them again, like the momentum before jumping.

A shadow appeared beside him, but he couldn't see anything other than the outline.

Neither could he figure out the voice of the person and its message.

.

"Lance, thank quiznak you are awake! We were all so worried about you, I can't believe you fainted like that, and right into your food! I was so afraid you choked on the living worms, for real man-"

Now he could hear.

And he knew exactly who was talking.

He put on a weak smile.

He felt a lot of weight fell on him, and knowing it was Hunk that dropped on him to hug, he wanted to smile and laugh and thank him for waiting with him to wake up.

But he couldn't say much.

Something was stopping him from talking, and he didn't quiet get what.

Hunk quickly rose his head from the bed, suddenly reminded of something.

"I have to tell the others you're awake!" he gasped, and ran out.

Lance tried his best to smile.

His heavy eyes didn't really want to open up, but he forced them.

He was somewhere with a lot of beds, it seemed. But it didn't look like an infirmary.

The beds were round, expensive and looked like they felt like heaven to lie on. He couldn't feel if he was laying in one himself.

As he tried to gather himself, his headache kept stinging him. He really hoped they had painkillers on this planet. Gradually, the sense of feeling came back to him, and he could feel how soft the bed really were.

Letting out a sigh, he was able to put on a weak smile for himself.

Now he had to get everyone away from this place.

.

.

"It's so good to see you awake, Lance." Shiro said, smiling as he leaned over to feel the temperature on his forehead. Allura looked at him strangely, but didn't say anything. Hunk kept apologizing and telling Lance how worried they were for him. He'd been out for several hours.

Everyone was standing around him, except Pidge that sat down on his bed, close to his feet.

They all looked worried, bringing frowns to their faces and looking at him like a sick animal. Hunk brought him something to eat and a liquid that looked and tasted the closest to water. Hunk's words.

"Where's Keith"

Lance didn't see the mullet.

His heart sunk when he realized he wasn't coming to greet him back from the coma. He really hoped he'd see the red paladin, see his worried face, maybe some tears.

See him worried for me.

None of them answered. They all went silent.

Lance blinked a few times, tried to look at everyone.

It seemed like they all looked over at Shiro, sending him glances.

Lance swallowed a rock in his throat.

"Keith left," Hunk said loudly, right before Shiro could open his mouth.

"Left?"

"Left."

Lance was silent for a moment. What the hell did that even mean? Did that mean he left the place and back to the castle of lions, or did he leave-leave Voltron?

He rubbed his fingers against his nasal bridge, trying to make sense of it.

"What do you mean he left"

The headache was triggered. What was this, Keith leaving?! Was he done being a paladin? He wanted to quit too, he was no good as a paladin, he was nothing! If someone were to leave, it had to be the blue fucking paladin!

The pain shot through his head, and it felt like a hand covered his whole head and squized him hard. He wanted to cry from the unknowing and from the pain itself.

"We mean, he left for a mission. He will be back within the time we are done with this solar system. The Blades of Marmora wanted him on this mission, and he insisted he could make it in time. Besides, we don't really need Voltron for this coalition work."

Shiro took over the explanation, knowing Hunk would confuse a hurt Lance.

Lance noticed he rose from the bed, and fell back into the cushions. He couldn't say anything, just a small "huh" in response to this.

He just upped and left.

He left.

Left.

Leave.

They need to leave.

He rose back up. Looking at everyones expressions, nobody knew what was really going on on this planet. He had to get them to leave.

"Allura, I am feeling a lot better now. I can take care of this stuff with the Hoobryxes, so you guys need to go through with the coalition. I'll catch up with you when this issue is resolved," he smiled.

Oh god how he hoped his weak smile would seem realistic.

Allura looked at him with distrust.

"I cannot leave you behind on this planet! You are sick, and I do not like that one hoobryx ONE bit.."

"Allura"

"Besides, we should not split up any more than we have already done. It is not good to be scattered like this!"

"Allura"

"Also, we don't know what may happen when we leave, like-"

"ALLURA"

She stopped talking, and looked at Lance with wide eyes. She nodded shortly towards Lance.

"I have a mole on the inside. Besides, I know a lot about this planet thanks to my friend here! He told me about their traditions; he can help me get the coalition working together with us. I am feeling a lot better now, so I can fix this without problems, I promise."

Allura didn't look any less distrusting, but Shiro seemed to take it better.

"If he can talk like this at the meeting and stand without help, then I'd say he can do this. I don't like the thought of you being all alone here, though."

"Shiro. I can take care of myself. We have a whole universe to help! This planet will only slow us all down; we need to split up so we can get a bigger area! I know their customs more than you all, so I'll be fine.

I promise."

They were all silent. As they thought of the idea of leaving Lance, a hoobryx came in with a serving plate with food and a glass of liquid. Lance recognized it.

"Hello Mu. How are the preparations going?" the blue paladin smiled. Mu smiled back, a bit weaker.

"Hello, paladin of Blue. I brought you something to digest so you can recover easier. I hope the antidote worked, paladin?" Mu asked and looked towards Hunk.

Lance raised an eyebrow.

Antidote?

Hunk nodded and smiled.

"Yeah, it worked wonders. Thanks to you." Everyone looked at Hunk, and then the hoobryx.

"He's a bit.. small," Pidge whispered just loud enough for Lance to hear it. Lance nodded.

"Everyone, this is my mole on the inside. Mu will help me get the coalition and the hoobryxes into a deal today," Lance smiled.

So Mu had talked to Hunk when he was asleep. Antidote?

No matter how hard Lance tried, he couldn't remember anything after he shouted he'd take Allura's spot. His head hurt again.

Everyone greeted Mu with a wink and a small smile. Mu smiled back and winked, left the plate on the table next to Lance, and left again.

"So he will help you?"

Lance nodded.

Everyone seemed to still not be convinced, but they also saw the reason why Lance said it.

He had no way to get to the other planets in his condition. And with Mu, he wouldn't be completely alone.

Lance could see the change in their eyes as they barely accepted the plan.

"Fine. We will leave for the next planet. But tell us immediately when something happens!" Shiro gave the last words in the conversation. Lance could tell, the leader didn't want to do this.

They were leaving.

They had to leave now.

.

.

Shiro, Allura and Pidge left first. When they asked Hunk, he told them he wanted to check on Lance one last time. He didn't feel like it was okay to leave his best friend behind in a bad condition.

But he couldn't say that out loud, could he?

Lance was lying in the bed, breathing heavily and slowly opening and closing his fists. Hunk watched him in pain, and he couldn't do much. The drug wasn't out of his body yet, so he had to suffer a few more hours.

As Hunk watched the other paladins leave for the castle, he had the idea to make some food at the palace's kitchen for Lance before he left. Good idea.

Whipping up some weird ingredients, he made something that looked similar to a burrito. Nodding his head, Hunk was satisfied with his work.

He hoped Lance would like it.

The halls were huge, with intricate patterns. It felt like he walked for eternity from the kitchen to Lance's room. He didn't pass a single hoobryx on the way.

Which was weird, when he thought of how many they were at the banquet. There was no sound of chattering either. No animal sound either.

"Was the infirmary that far away from the banquet..?"

Finally, he rounded the corner in the end of the hallway, and found the door to Lance's room.

Open.

He heard muffled sounds from it.

A loud crash, like a pot fell and broke in pieces on a floor of stone.

Oh no.


	8. Chapter 8

He rushed towards the room, but tried to be as quiet as possible. Everyone was already gone, he had no backup whatsoever!

Peeking through the doors, he could only see a little, but it was enough.

Three guards pinning him down, a fourth one with something in his hand, stabbing into Lance.

He let out a scream, but was quickly muffled by the pin-downers.

Hunk had to stop himself from running in and yell at them to stop hurting his best friend.

He was all alone, he couldn't help!

He needed backup!

But he really didn't have fucking _TIME._

He fell to his knees in agony and pain as he heard his lion roar in his head.

"No yellow, I need, I need to save Lance..!" He tried to stand back up, fighting his lion on this matter.

He took a step towards the room where Lance was screaming. Yellow made him take a step away.

And then another.

Hunk wanted to cry. He really DID wish to save Lance, to not hear him scream in pain like this. But he really couldn't do anything that wouldn't destroy the whole coalition on this planet.

He could fight them if he strategized, shot each alien with one shot and hitting them. A surprise attack, that is.

 _He could do this._

...

He needed backup.

…

"Come on Yellow, let's get the others! Pidge, Shiro, are you there? I need you back on Abox _asap!_ "

His lion was a bit slow to put him through.

But nobody answered.

"C'mon yellow, don't be such a dick right now..! Lance needs us and I can't fight a whole planet like this!"

As Hunk ran towards the hangar his lion were waiting in, he didn't meet a single Hoobryx. It was silent, no sounds, just like earlier.

Still no answer from Pidge or Shiro.

"Yellow! Thank goodness now open up, we need to leave!"

Jumping into his lion and taking off, he felt a little better. Now he only had to get reach the others, tell them Lance was in trouble, and they could all save the day.

It felt good to stay inside Yellow after mingling with these weird aliens, Hunk had to admit that.

"Okay, full thrusters, boy!"

Then, something hit them.

It was powerful, startling Hunk and shaking Yellow a bit out of course.

It hit them HARD.

"What the heck was THAT?!" Hunk commented, feeling the stress and anxiety well up in him. _What the fuck._

Searching with for the cause on screens, he found several cannons that they didn't think were even there, all around on the ground.

Some seemed to be close to firing again.

He heard a faint "boom", and another one hit him, this time a little weaker since he barely maneuvered away.

"WHAT THE QUIZNAC!?"

.

.

"Commander, we have the lion in sight. Shall we fire?"

A slender Hoobryx was standing on the bridge, his medals shimmering in the low lighting.

A big and old one was standing before him, wearing a great mane of gray-ish fur(or hair) with the triple amount of medals as the first one.

He scoffed.

"Shoot him down," he grumbled.

"- We don't want any trouble with Voltron."

"What do you mean 'no trouble with Voltron'? We already have the blue paladin locked in our chambers, instead of having him with his team saving planets!"

The younger Hoobryx furrowed his eyebrows and rose his voice.

"We are already in _deep shit_ with the paladins. The least we can do is not shoot him and figure out this in a different way, we did not need to cut their communication either-"

The elder was quick to grasp the neck of the young soldier. No words were uttered.

Slowly, he rose his arm, forming his fingertips to touch.

He snapped his fingers, and two guards came from behind and grabbed the soldier.

Nobody said a word.

The big elder snapped his fingers again when they were out of the bridge, and the other hoobryxes could talk again.

.

.

Coran didn't really get why the were only three paladins returning from the planet Abox.

Well he kinda knew that Keith had permission to leave for the blade (although nobody on the team liked that idea) and Lance had decided to stay on Abox to fix.. something?

Coran really hoped that nothing bad had happened on Abox. The last time he visited the planet, they had all been savages and tried to rip his leg off, only to later figure out his perfume had tempted them a lot. He only hoped they had finally let go of their heavy traditions after 10 000 years.

"I really hope Lance knows what he's doing.." Pidge muttered to herself, loud enoug for Coran to hear it. He moved slightly closer and weighed his head from one side to the other.

"Well, I'd say with number two's way of talking, he will be fine. He's a mighty fine boy, you know number five?"

He tried to lighten the mood as they all waited in a huge lounge to be greeted by the new planet's ruler. The visit to this planet was going far better than that on Abox, Coran assumed.

"We are sorry to say, but the preparations are taking a little longer than we assumed in the first place. I humbly apologize," an alien came up to Allura and began talking, looking very sad.

She shook her head and said it was completely fine.

As the alien exited the room, their communication began crackling.

Pidge was the first to check on it.

"Hunk? What's up? Wait, let me put you on speaker-"

" ** _I need you all back on Abox, NOW!_** "

Everyone jumped in surprise. Allura frowned her brows, her eyes making fire.

"They- they poisoned him! They drugged him when you guys left! I-I couldn't do anything, I tried to contact you guys but I couldn't get through and they FIRED AT ME when I left-!"

Hunk sounded like he was crying.

Coran looked at the others, terrified.

Shiro's eyes yelled murder, Allura's face looked devastated, while Pidge was in shock.

Everyone started yelling at the same time.

 _"And you just LEFT him there?!"_

 _"Where are you now, we'll run to our lions and get to Abox as fast as possible-"_

 _"I FUCKING KNEW THAT APE WAS BAD SHIT"_

Everyone were silent for a second after Allura yelled that.

"Let's run to our lions," she said quick.

While they ran, Coran tried to figure out what the paladins could have done to provoke the Hoobryxes.

"Princess, if you may, please tell me what happened on the planet. All of this seems.. highly unlikely."

She explained while they ran through the corridors, with Coran lightly jogging beside her.

"Oh, quiznack."


	9. Chapter 9

_Author here! I have nothing to say other than yay, I have the time and inspiration to write! I hope everyone is able to keep up with the story? It has already become pretty long, so can I call it a slowburn soon? ^^ nah, but I hope you like this chapter!_

.

"Coran, what do you know?" Shiro asked, running alongside the altean. The leaders eyebrows screamed of worry. He did not know how bad his decision to leave Lance behind was, but he knew it was bad.

"I could go on and on about their traditions, but I did not think they still practiced this.. I talked to on of the chiefs on this planet to get some new information, and I must say I was terrified! Ten thousand years, and they still do the apology ceremony? I am both in awe and disgusted; we need to abolish this at once, who knows how many more they have destroyed the lives of!"

"Coran! Explain, what is the ceremony?!" Hunk yelled out, angry and scared and you could tell his voice cracked a little.

"The ceremony is slavery."

 _Slavery.  
_ The word didn't sit right in their mouths.

Everyone went quiet as they ran towards the docks where their lions were.

The moment Shiro touched black, he accidentally hit her, hard, the sound of metal ringing in everyone's ears. He looked just as confused as everyone else, but they soon realized he was just as emotionally guilt-tripped as everyone else. He didn't mean to do that, and apologized quickly before they all went into their lions.

Once inside, they tried to call for Keith. On their way to the planet, they called for Keith.

Nobody got contact.

Hunk felt the worst of them all. The feeling deep inside of his gut, the knowledge he had and the opportunity he had to save Lance. His cowardness was the cause, he was a coward that couldn't help his best friend when he needed him the most. He could have saved Lance, screw the coaltion, these guys did horrendous things to their teammate!

He didn't notice the tears until Pidge commented on it over the comm.

"Hunk, we're gonna fix this. We're gonna get him back, no matter what!"

"But how?! We can't just fight them, they are a whole planet, with artillery, and we can't form Voltron because we don't have Lance or the blue lion with us!

"I guess we need to convince them that the ceremony is too much of a punishment for such a small thing.." Allura joined in the discussion.

"It's like death penalty for shoplifting at a supermarket.." Hunk added.

"What's shoplifting?" Allura asked. Hunk tried his best to explain, while Shiro tried to contact Keith in the background.

"Keith, come in. The team needs you, please answer. Fuck what if he's dead. No, Keith COME IN-"

"Woah there Shiro" the intercom spoke, and Shiro felt his shoulders lost some weight.

"Shiro, what is it?" it was Keith, it finally was. He sounded worried.

"Did someone die?"

So he only heard the last words.

"No, no, nobody's dead. I hope. Keith, we need you back on the team, we have a dire situation on Abox! I am sorry, but you have to leave the Blades; this is important. Lance is-"

He could tell the communication was cut. The communicator didn't make a sound.

At least Keith knew now. He really hoped he'd get to them in time..

"We're soon within the gravitation of Abox, but we still don't know how to rescue Lance! Any ideas?" Pidge asked, interrupting Shiro.

"We can't work with eye witnesses, as I was the only one around when it happened. Also I don't think anyone wants to voice anything against their ruler." Hunk added, feeling worse as he spoke each word. A bitter taste didn't leave his insides.

"Even if we found someone, they would either lie or blow it out of proportions," Allura added.

"What about cameras?" Hunk asked.

"They don't have the technology for it. Remember, they are a specimen of savages; I hardly believe they are capable of making electricity.."

"They DID have cannons working," Hunk pointed out. Alllura was silent.

Maybe they weren't as savage as they first thought.

"But what about Rover?" Pidge lit up, her face looking brighter than their future on the communicator screen. Hunk lit up too, for only for a second.

"But Rover wasn't there, so we still have no proof.."

"Ugh, I hate this! Why don't we just fool them?! Animate a likely version of how it all happened and present it to them; they cannot possibly see the difference, and they can't deny it either since it's videotaped!" Pidge blurted out, frustrated but with big open eyes.

"I think you're onto something there, Pidge" Allura mumbled.

Could a visual proof be enough for them to release Lance? She could only hope so…

"Coran, what do you think?"

The altean looked over her shoulder in the castle, mumbling to himself as he looked at the screens of the paladins. His left eye twitched a bit as he touched his mustache.

Blinking once, he rose his back and smiled.

"I think it can work! Number five, how long will it take to prepare the visual? We have 20 doboshes(minutes) until we arrive at their planet. Anything else we need to prepare?"

.

.

The communicator kept buzzing, but he couldn't answer it. _Not yet._

 _Only a few minutes, and he could take it._

He was exhausted, the mission was a lot harder than he thought it would be. They had successfully infiltrated the facility and planted the bombs, but the hard part was to get out without the cameras seeing them.

Keith still felt the fear of being left behind by the blade in this situation.

If he had been a tad slower, they would have left him behind.

3

2

1

He was amazed by the fact that he could see the explosion from that far away.

The colours were vivid, and it slowly expanded. It looked like one of those slow motion scenes in action movies, but there was no sound. Of course, this was space; there was no oxygen, no carbondioxide, nothing that the soundwaves could go between to even create the sound.

It was slow and silent. And the base was no more.

All of it, destroyed, blown to smithereens.

 _He could have been a part of that._

A small lump formed in his throat as he thought of it.

Kolivan nodded in his direction, giving him clearance to accept the buzzing communicator.

Keith was quick to take it; it might be Lance.

Oh how he wanted to hear from him! It didn't matter if he was pissed by his choice to leave for the blade, or if he was just checking in. His stomach fluttered, his heart squeezed a little by the thought of Lance, grinning like a dork at the intercom.

With a smile, he touched the button and Shiro's face lit up.

He didn't look too happy.

"-e's dead. Keith COME IN-"

"Woah there Shiro!" Keith said, a bit taken back by this. What had happened?!

"Did someone die?" now he was scared.

"No, no, nobody's dead. I hope. Keith, we need you back on the team, we have a dire situation on Abox! I am sorry, but you have to leave the Blades; this is important. Lance is-"

The communicator went silent, cutting off the connection.

"Shiro? Hello, Shiro? What about Lance, what is it?!" Keith shook the communicator, hoping it was just a bad signal.

Only the sound of a faint ringing in his ears was left.

Then silence.

It took Keith a few seconds to figure out he was not breathing. Gasping for air, he felt the lump in his throat grow a little. His throat was dry. His heart was beating like it was hitting a gong. Slow but powerful. Then it gained speed.

Fidgeting with the buttons on the comm, he figured that nothing indicated that it was damaged or out of battery. But something was amiss.

The lump kept growing, slowly. Lance.

Fuck, _Lance._

"Kolivan, I have to leave"


	10. Chapter 10

_Let me start off with apologizing for chapter 8's bad spelling, it's really bad. Sorry. Hopefully ch 9 is better and will get rid of the bad aftertaste._

Everything seemed okay when the lions and the castle entered the planets orbit. No cannons in sight, no fleets or ships ready to fire at them at any second. It was quiet.

"Done!" Pidge triumphed as she clapped her hands together. The animated video was ready, and was based on everyone's experience of the moment when Lance supposedly 'fucked up'.  
Hunk allowed himself to feel a little bit better. A small smile for a small victory.

Now they only had to present it to the king as evidence, deny the unnesessary penalty and Lance would be free.

Right?

A sudden sound came from the comms, startling Hunk and his thoughts.  
It belonged to Allura.

"Allura! What's wrong?" Pidge yelled, reacting to it faster than the others.

"The Castle's been hit! They're firing at us!"

"They're what?" Hunk yelled, frantically touching the buttons in his lion to find the objects that hit the castle. He might not have upgraded his lion to find every little thing on the radar like Pidge, but he sure as hell had added a thermal sensor.  
Running the program, he exclaimed before Pidge (suck it, genius) that there was, in fact, a horde of missiles on their way to them.

"They must have been too small for the radars to pick up," Hunk added. He bit his lips as he kept watching the number of missiles grow on his screen. He felt a small pinch of fear from the amount of almost unidentifiable objects that could potentionally kill them.

These aliens did not want them back on their ground.

"Shiro, what do we do?" Pidge didn't sound too confident, and Hunk was on the verge of tears himself. He heard the communicators cracked continuously, sounding like sparks and popping rock candy. He could hear Shiro's voice in between the pops, but he only caught a few words that had no meaning.  
"Guys, can you repeat that? I don't know what you're saying, the comm seems to be damaged-"

Hunk hit the dashboard with his fist, downright frightened and frustrated.

"Answer me goddamnit!"

Silence.

He couldn't hear the missiles exploding, but he could see the sudden lights as they hit the other lions. Tapping away on the dashboard, he tried to think of what he could do. Would sending the others his thermal sensory vision work? He was the only one with this sensor, as far as he knew. He could, like, airdrop it or something so the others could navigate.

Tapping, pushing buttons, sending.  
The communicator kept crackling.  
Lights flickered in the corner of his eyes form the others getting hit.  
Eyes kept switching between looking at the loading screen and the actual screen, trying not to hit the missiles.  
As he squinted when a blast went off right beside him, the data was sent with a huff.

A relieved sigh, right before he himself got hit.  
The rumbling from the lion felt like an earthquake.

"Ah FUCK!" he blurted out, feeling it shake him to his core. It was a terrifying feeling.  
"Just WHAT is going on..!"  
Was it really that important for them to keep Voltron off their planet? They know that by fighting back, they are creating enemies with the paladins? Did they even think at this point?

But what if.

What if that was their intentions?

What if a Galra fleet was on its way? Nobody thought of this, what if they had sided with the galra first? They could all be in serious danger, and Lance-

"Guys guys guys guYS PLEASE come in, come in come innnnn..!" Hunk kept repeating, hitting the dashboard harder every time. Work work work work..!

The comm crackled.

"Hunk, finally someone came through!" Pidge sounded relieved. And she was, more than she wanted to acknowledge. He could hear her sniff on the other side of the comm.

"We might be in huge trouble if we don't get to the ground and save Lance, like right NOW. The Hoobryxes might be collaborating with the Galra! We don't know, but they probably are. They already have Blue, you know?!" Hunk was, again, on the verge of tears.

"Then we need to get rid of the missiles and hurry up! Can you blast us a path with Yellow's cannon?" The comm began to crackle again, but the communication was still up and running for its life. For now.

"I'll blast our way through. Keep watch and help me maneuver away from the ones I miss, okay?"  
Hunk's eye kept twitching, once every time someone got hit by the enemy. There was a LOT of missiles, lots of weapons; lots of power going into excluding them from the ceremony.

"Pidge, is there anyway we can communicate with the others without the communicator? We need to group up so I can fire my cannons to clear that path!" Hunk kept looking at the thermo sensor and his surroundings. As long as he had a window of opportunity to actually charge the cannon, he'd be good to go.

"I think I know a way. Do you have your phone from earth?"

"Not with me here, no"

Hunk could hear Pidge curse under her breath. Guess they just had to deal with shitty communicators and hope for the best.

"Would it help to get the lions closer?"

"..what?"

The comm kept crackling, sounding like the same stupid pop rock candies they ate as kids. Hunk started to get really annoyed by it. Stupid pop rocks.

"Guess we have to plan this by show and tell," he scoffed to himself.  
Yellow moved towards the other lions, almost hitting a new round of missiles. The rumbling from the hit made his gut wrench. He really hoped the lions would be fine when they got to the planet..

Moving behind Green, Hunk tried his best to signal to Shiro that he wanted him beside Pidge. His comm crackled again.

"-unk? Shiro, anyone? Please respond, there's-"

"Allura!" Hunk felt he could breathe again; now he could get some actual shielding!  
"I need you to up the defense of the castle! I will try to fire my cannons at the base, but it takes some time to charge it. I need backup until it's ready!"

The comm crackled again, but by the way Allura responded, it seemed like she got the whole message.

"So, shield and blast?"

"Uhu," Hunk nodded, relieved to finally be heard.

Switching between the screens and buttons around him, Hunk started initiating the cannon on his lion, keeping his tongue out of his mouth as he focused. Flashes of missiles hitting his friends, the sparkling candy pop rocks from the comm, and the feeling of sweat running down his back, all of them were pushed to the back of his mind.

Push everything back.

Pulling the lever forward, one of the screens lit up beside him, showing the bars blowing up slowly. Initiating blow.

More flashing.

Sparks.

The screen glowed and the last bar was now reached.

"FIRE!"

 **.**

The blast felt like a car crash.

The moment Hunk had fired the cannon to make way for the lions, he had himself been hit by a missile.

The turmoil of the hit was worse than the other ones he'd gotten, and now he felt like throwing up, still spinning around into nothingness.

He heard the rock candy and a voice, someone was yelling at him.  
A big clank, a sudden stop in his violent spinning, and he could finally let out his breath without feeling his lunch from earlier climb up his throat.

Alluras voice asked him if he was okay between the sparkles.

"Y-yeah, thanks for asking. Did it work?" Running his fingers behind his head, he briefly checked for bumps or damage after the hit, feeling lightheaded.

The comm kept sparkling.

"Guys! I think the cannonblast worked!" Shiro was finally back online with them all. Pidge cheered, Allura praised Hunks fast thinking, and Shiro immediately asked how everyone else was doing.

Hunk swallowed the spit forming in his mouth, the sour feeling making him vary of the consequenses of moving too much.  
He looked up slowly, knowing he shouldn't be this slow when they could be attacked any moment now.

The planet before them looked quiet.

Silent.

Peaceful.

Abandoned.

"What..?" he whispered.

"Why are they not firing at us anymore?"


	11. Chapter 11

Hunks voice was low, almost like a whimper. Did he really do it? Did his cannon actually hit the main target? Did he get rid of the hangars and machines and weapons?

Unable to move, he only focused on the planet opposed to him. When he blinked, he realized that the others were ahead of him, already flying at full force towards the planet.

Ready to show the evidence.

The false evidence that could also bring them all to their doom if they were caught.

The evidence that nonetheless could save Lance.

.

As they landed on the planet, there was nothing.

The halls where emtpy, even more so than when they left. No Hoobryxes.  
Nobody was around.

Hunk could only think of one word fitting for the scenery he was presented with; Abandonment.

Everything was hollow, there was nothing in the halls that could tell them that a huge amount of glittery, hairy aliens lived on the premise. Their footsteps resounded in the long hallways.

They left Coran to stay behind and guard the lions, just in case. There was no way they could take the risk of losing more lions now, not when the possibility of a collaberation with the enemy was possible.

Their run through the high corridors felt like an eternity.

Allura and Pidge were both frantically searching with their gear and magic to find Lance's lifesource, energy, warmt, SOMETHING to localize him and confirm that he was still alive and.. well.  
What was going on inside their heads?  
He knew it was stupid, but a low voice of his head wouldn't stop whispering "It's your fault" over and over again. The guilt was just as sour as his potential vomit.

As Hunk felt his breath run short, he felt like they needed to go through the plane once more.

"Pidge, exactly how does the fake evidence look?" he panted. She turned her head, and slowed down her steps to match his speed and pointed towards Rover.

Right, Rover.

"My baby will show a hologram of the scene I animated, based on what everyone saw and heard. Allura will present this as a fact, and totally crush them with a line like 'this is unheard of, it's time to let go of these horrible traditions and free the slaves- or apologizers. Depends. Also if they don't do it, we'll tell Coran to fuck up shit with the castle."

Allura nodded to the plan.

"But first we need to find Lance and Fortar, and then the King. Pidge and I will take care of the King and the diplomacy, you two look for Lance and Fortar. Got it?" Allura ran ahead of everyone, grabbing Pidge by the neck and speeding up towards the end of the long hall.

Hunk slowed down, now feeling totally out of breath. Heaving for air, his chest hurt as it rose and depleted as a violent dancemove. Shiro lightly patted his back, also slowing down to deal with his partners situation.

As he almost caught his breath again, Hunk could feel something was off.

Something about the hall they were in.

"Shiro?" He heaved for air. A nod in return.

"Do you hear something?"

A raised eyebrow answered Hunks question. Maybe it really WAS only him. For a few seconds now, he swore he could hear a faint rumbling, like thunder in the distance.

Only now he could hear it louder.

And maybe it wasn't him that was shaking so much, maybe -

.

The blast shook his whole body.

He couldn't think, only close his eyes as he felt a force pushing him to the ground and staying on top of him. Squinting his eyes to look, he could see the faint silhouette of Shiro beside him, shielding him from whatever had happened. Now there was a ringing in his ear, deafening whatever was going on. A giant smoke screen surrounded them, dust everywhere.

There had been an explosion. Something had exploded, and they were caught dead in the middle of it. Hunk could hear the sound of dust and small stones sprinkling down from the roof, sounding like sand between his fingers.

The ringing was almost unbearable.

His vision flickered between Shiro on his shoulder and the two others lying on the ground, meters before them. He was quick to get up, but Shiro was quicker, now pulling up Hunk by the collar of his paladin suit like he weighed nothing.

Hunk stumbled onto his feet, and in the process of regaining balance, he swooped up Pidge and kept running towards the end of the hallway, eyes flickering between Shiro in the corner holding Allura's hand and the near end of the corridor.

They finally slowed down when they reached the door, now whispering to each other.

"Is everyone all right?" Hunk looked at the others, looking for wounds or anything that indicated pain. Everyone nodded.

"What WAS that explosion?!" Pidge hissed, still under Hunk's grasp and rapidly tapping at her device to gain more knowledge.

"I don't know, but we better get going!" Shiro hissed, his eyes flickering between the other three paladins. He seemed to have taken a hit himself, and Hunk felt even worse. Clenching his teeth and shaking his head, he tried to keep the thought out of his head.

Before Hunk could apologize for Shiro getting hurt, the leader snapped at him.

"This is not your fault Hunk, but we better be more careful in the future if there's more explosions.."

His eyes were fierce, but also so, so calming. The consuming thoughts took a step back from that glare. Allura now gathered the eyes of all three, and whispered a small "Are you ready?", waiting for everyone to nod.

Hunks heart pounded, unsure what to do, how to do all this.. How were they going to find Lance? What if it's already too late? It did take him so long to actually get the others, and..

He could feel the light touch of two hands, one small and light and one big and slightly heavy on each shoulder. Putting on a trembling smile, he truly wanted to keep his thoughts out of the operation.

He wanted to see Lance again.

He nodded.

They nodded, turned towards the door, and flung it open with brute force.


End file.
